Page 21 of Exchange of Heart

‘Only you.’

Her eyes flashed and she balled her fists. ‘Maybe we should focus on figuring out how to switch back if we don’t know why this happened.’ She clenched her teeth.

‘Sure.’

‘I have some ideas.’ She opened the Notes app on her phone, then held the screen in front of me.

‘Meditating?’ I raised my eyebrow.

‘We’re trying anything and everything.’

‘Let’s try this one first, it makes the most sense.’ I tapped the screen.

Collide with each other.

‘Not my first pick, but I suppose we need to try everything eventually.’ Nora jumped off her stool and waved me away with her hand.

She stood in the kitchen while I walked through the door on the other side to stand against my bedroom wall.

‘Are you ready?’ I asked.

She nodded, but there was no mistaking the terror in her eyes. That’s likely how I looked the first time I walked into my dad’s depressing building eleven years ago.

‘On three,’ she suggested.

‘One,’ I said.

‘Two,’ she continued.

‘Three,’ we shouted at the same time and ran towards each other like footballers preparing for a tackle.

Nora had her feet apart, body low, and eyes on the breasts she desperately wanted back. The sight of her incoming body terrified me, and my eyes involuntarily shut themselves moments before impact. Our limbs tangled and an ache pulsed through my chest where a shoulder-shaped bruise would appear tomorrow after the way she’d charged me. Nora’s hand rested against her head, and she grumbled an undignified groan followed by a gasp.

‘Oh my gosh, it worked,’ she shrieked.

Her fingers tugged the long black locks and yanked me cheek to cheek with her.

‘That’s still connected to me,’ I muttered.

She released the hair and let out a sob, allowing me to scramble to my tiny feet and put some distance between us.

‘It’s fine, show me that list again.’

‘It’s on the bench.’ She pointed to the kitchen.

My nose scrunched at each suggestion. ‘Staring into old photos?’ My mouth continued to twist into various positions, no more words coming out.

She waited with raised eyebrows for a sentence that would never be brought to life, because what the hell was she even thinking with that suggestion?

‘What?’ she asked at last.

‘What the hell is staring at old photos going to do?’

‘I don’t know, reconnect us with ourselves?’

I threw my hands in the air with defeat. ‘Sure, let’s try it. I don’t want to spend another day sitting next to that chattering chimp.’

‘Izzy?’